THE mother of the dead Boston marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev wants her son to be buried in Russia, providing a possible solution to the problem of finding a cemetery that will accept him in the Boston area.

Peter Stefan, an undertaker with the funeral parlour, has told reporters their mother, Zubeidat, telephoned him from her home in Russia's Dagestan region on Sunday.

She wept during the conversation with him and asked for Tamerlan to be sent to her for burial.

Stefan has vowed not to ship Tamerlan's remains until he is assured there will be a proper burial, with neither mutilation of the body nor glorification of the suspect's alleged terrorism.

After protesting over the weekend outside the funeral parlour, demonstrators rallied there again on Monday to voice their opposition to Tamerlan's burial in the Boston area or anywhere in Massachusetts.

Stefan says if no alternative is found, he will have to turn to the state board of health or even the federal government to report that the unburied body was becoming a "health issue."

"The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide spread media presence at such an interment,'' Mr Healy said in a statement.

Mr Healey said the families who have loved ones interred at the cemetery also deserve to have their deceased family members rest in peace. He said federal agencies should take the lead in the burial.

Mr Stefan said if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, of Montgomery Village, Maryland, and three of his friends met with Stefan on Sunday to wash and shroud Tsarnaev's body according to Muslim tradition.

Tsarni told reporters that he is arranging for Tsarnaev's burial because religion and tradition call for his nephew to be buried. He would like him buried in Massachusetts because he's lived in the state for the last decade, he said.

"I'm dealing with logistics. A dead person must be buried,'' he said.

Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev is the surviving brother of Tamerlan, both are accused of committing the Boston Marathon bombings.

He said he was grateful to Mr Stefan for agreeing to arrange the burial and to his friends for accompanying him to Massachusetts to aid with the funeral.

"These are my friends who feel for me...as I do understand no one wants to associate their names with such evil events,'' he said.

The latest developments come after a magistrate agreed to release a friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from federal custody while he awaits trial for allegedly lying to federal investigators probing the bombings.

A Boston court will consider releasing Robel Phillipos, above, friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev out on house arrest pending his trial for lying to investigators. Picture: AP

Robel Phillipos, 19, was charged last week with lying to investigators about visiting Tsarnaev's college dorm room after the bombings. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors initially asked that Phillipos be held while he awaits trial, arguing that he poses a serious flight risk. But both sides said in the court motion filed today they agreed to allow Phillipos to be released on $US100,000 ($97,000) bond, provided he be confined to home and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.

Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler agreed to the strict house arrest during a hearing Monday afternoon. She told Phillipos he was allowed to leave the house only for meetings with his lawyers or true emergencies.

A huge crowd of supports, including Phillipos' relatives, friends and grade-school principal, showed up to the courthouse for the detention hearing. It was not immediately clear when Phillipos would be released.

Mr Phillipos is accused of lying to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college dorm room on April 18, three days after the bombings. Two other friends were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev's dorm room. All four had studied at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Defence attorneys for Mr Phillipos said in court documents their client had nothing to do with the deadly bombings and isn't a flight risk.

The Tsarnaev brothers are accused of carrying out the bombings using pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards. The attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon's finish line.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and remains in a prison hospital. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and faces a potential death sentence if convicted.

Tsarnaev, who had appeared in surveillance photos wearing a black cap, was identified by authorities as Suspect No. 1.

The state medical examiner ruled that Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, and authorities have said his brother ran him over in a chaotic getaway attempt.

Mr Tsarni has denounced the acts his nephews are accused of committing and has said they brought shame to the family and the entire Chechen ethnicity. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Both parents returned to Dagestan last year.

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